NORRISTOWN — More than a dozen people from a conservative group prayed inside the office of the Montgomery County Register of Wills Friday morning in protest of the office recently issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Michael McMonigle, president of the Pro-Life Coalition of Pa., said they were asking the county district attorney to file charges against D. Bruce Hanes for issuing the marriage licenses in violation of state law and appealing for people to recognize how “important (heterosexual) marriage is to a healthy society.”

Holding signs calling for people to “return to God’s laws,” the group assembled in front of the county court house before marching across the street to the Register of Wills office.

Once inside the office, they stood and said several prayers in unison.

A member of the coalition made a statement inside the office, saying, “the best situation is for a child to have a mom and dad, and every single study, no matter where it comes from, solidifies that point.”

In an earlier interview McMonigle said, “civil government gives special recognition to a union of a man and woman because that union can produce children, where a homosexual relationship is inherently unequal because it cannot produce children.

The protest was relatively peaceful.

On Wednesday, five same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses in Montgomery County one day after Hanes said he would issue them and that he is in favor of any couple getting married, regardless of their sex.

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NORRISTOWN (AP) — A conservative group has planned a “pray-in” to protest Montgomery County officials’ decision to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and officials in three nearby counties say they’ll abide by current state law and not issue such licenses.

Michael McMonigle, president of the Pro-Life Coalition of Pa., says he expects 20 to 30 people at the prayerful protest in Norristown on Friday. That’s where Montgomery County Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes began issuing licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday.

But Hanes’ counterparts in Berks, Delaware and York counties, all in southeastern Pennsylvania, say they won’t be following suit. Those officials say they’ll continue to abide by a state law defining marriage as a contract between one man and one woman unless and until the courts or lawmakers change the statute.